Yankees do well acquiring Torres in Chapman deal

By David Borges dborges@nhregister.com @DaveBorges on Twitter

Published
6:35 pm EDT, Saturday, July 30, 2016

After being acquired by the Yankees in the deal that sent Aroldis Chapman to the Cubs, Gleyber Torres reported to the Yanks’ high-A affiliate in Tampa — and immediately shot up to the No. 1-ranked prospect in the team’s system, per mlb.com.

It’s a nice coup for Brian Cashman, who still has a strong bullpen even without Chapman and can re-sign the flame-throwing lefthander this offseason, if the Yankees so desire. The general consensus is that Theo Epstein and the Cubs gave up too much to get Chapman, but keep in mind the Cubs haven’t won a World Series in 108 years and very much needed a reliable arm at the back end of their bullpen.

Torres was ranked the Cubs’ top overall prospect and deemed the No. 27 overall prospect by Baseball America in its midseason top 100 list. Signed for $1.7 million out of Venezuela in 2013, he hit .287 with three homers, 62 RBI and 22 steals last season between Class A South Bend and high-A Myrtle Beach and helped the latter win the Carolina League championships.

Just 19, he put on quite a bit of muscle over the winter and was hitting .275 with 9 homers in 356 at-bats for Myrtle Beach this season before the trade.

While the Yankees obviously went for the “best available player” in dealing with the Cubs, it’s interesting they landed a shortstop. Didi Gregorius is just 26, having a terrific season, and won’t be a free agent for another three years. And the Yankees’ top prospect before Torres came over was Jorge Mateo – also a shortstop.